Sub menu

Cynthia Rockwell

David M. Gruppo ’79 has joined the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. (BTMU) as head of Latin America Corporate and Investment Banking, a newly created position. He reports to Randall Chafetz, head of corporate and investment banking for the Americas.

Gruppo has spent a significant portion of his career involved in Latin American corporate and investment banking, including positions with Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Santander. During the past eight years, he has been focused on the technology sector, working in various capacities with IBM, including T J Watson Research. An economics major at Wesleyan, he earned his JD from the Georgetown University Law Center.

In a press release for the company, Gruppo says he is excited by this opportunity, and he characterizes Latin America as having “strong and sustained growth over many years and demonstrated resilience during the financial crisis.”

He adds: “Latin America has reached an important inflection point where it is no longer emerging; it has emerged. … BTMU opened its first offices in Argentina and Brazil over 90 years ago, and has a long-established presence in Mexico and Chile, so is well-positioned to help facilitate the significant expansion of ties between Asia and Latin America.”

Jonathan Dube ’94 joined AOL as senior vice president and general manager of AOL news and information. Previously, he was vice president of ABCNews.com. Dube has twice served as president of the Online News Association and is now on the board of directors for the association.

In a press release, David Eun, president of AOL media and studios, calls Dube “[e]qual parts journalist and business strategist,” and says that he is “adept at building online content partnerships and creating exceptional user experiences.”

“At the heart of my passion for journalism is my long-time interest in how technology is transforming the media,” said Dube in the release.

A history major at Wesleyan, he has a master’s degree in journalism from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. An award-winner for his work in new media, Dube has also published in a number of print venues, including The New York Times and the Columbia Journalism Review.

This was part of the network’s sweeping change for the show, replacing the entire weekday anchor team of “The Early Show” with their weekend counterparts.

Castro had most recently served as the weather anchor and feature correspondent for the ABC News weekend edition of Good Morning America (2004–2010). In conjunction with studio coverage of the national weather outlook, Castro also reported weather-related stories from the field, including several from New Orleans and Florida, focused around the recent hurricanes.

Additionally, she has also reported on stories unrelated to weather, including ones on undocumented UC Berkeley students for whom deportation loomed, as well as a family whose young daughter suffered severe allergies to a wide variety of common substances.

On television broadcasts she also swam with sharks at a New Jersey aquarium, dove off cliffs in Hawaii, and covered the Academy Awards from the red carpet.

A government major at Wesleyan, she earned her master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Katherine O’Brien ’75 was promoted to senior vice president and deputy general counsel at New York Life Insurance Company. She is responsible for managing the employment, litigation, ERISA, contracts, intellectual property, corporate transactions and administrative units of the Office of the General Counsel.

Previously, she was first vice president and deputy counsel after serving as the company’s chief diversity officer. She had joined New York Life in 1995 as a litigator, specializing in employment litigation and benefits compliance.

O’Brien earned a J.D. degree from Brooklyn Law School. At Wesleyan, she majored in English.

“Mapendo International’s efforts to rescue and resettle one Darfuri family to the U.S. aired onABC’s World News with Bob Woodruff (standing in for Diane Sawyer), Sunday, Nov. 21,” writes Sasha Chanoff ’94, founder and executive director of the Boston-based international refugee agency. Mapendo International rescues refugees in life-threatening situations by permanently relocating them to countries where they can rebuild their lives in safety and with dignity.

Earlier this year, David Low ’76 wrote about Chanoff for WesLive, when Chanoff was awarded the Charles Bronfman Prize, which recognizes an individual under the age of 50 who has contributed to the betterment of the world and has been influenced by Jewish values.

Adrienne Bentman ’74, M.D., director for the adult psychiatry residency program at the Institute of Living/Hartford Hospital, received the 2010 Robert Cancro Academic Leadership Award from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP).

The Cancro award recognizes a professional serving in a leadership role for his or her contributions to the promotion of child and adolescent psychiatry.

At the annual meeting of the AACAP, Bentman presented a talk on her recent work: “The Little Engine That Could; Re-Establishing the Institute of Living’s Residencies.”

Beth Rose ’84, P’14, of Sills Cummis and Gross P.C., was recognized as one of the 10 Most Admired Product Liability Attorneys by Law 360: Newswire for Business Lawyers.

Rose, whose specialty is defending pharmaceutical and medical device companies facing product liability and mass tort litigation, has “earned a reputation as a quick thinker and a team player,” according to fellow litigators who nominated her for the title.

A history major at Wesleyan, she received her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and joined Sills Cummis immediately afterward. Her first case involved defending medical device manufacturer Becton Dickinson & Company in a lawsuit filed by a nurse who pricked her finger on a needle after drawing blood from an HIV-positive patient. The nurse alleged that the design was defective and without proper warnings.

Rose found this first case so intriguing that she began developing expertise in this area, even before legal specialization became common practice.

“What I really love about this type of litigation is that with each new case you have the opportunity to learn about a different product and how it was developed and labeled. It’s really interesting and it never gets boring,” Rose said in the article.

Her fellow Sills Cummis product liability attorney Stuart Feinblatt described her as “aggressive, but in a very diplomatic way. She’s 100 percent committed to the client’s interests but she’s able to interface with opposing counsel in a nice way, which reaches a consensus that’s favorable to the client.”

Singer and composer Peter Durwood ’86, who crafts music and sound design for Sesame Workshop digital products, recently created the sound for a Sesame video that has become popular on YouTube.

In it, Grover, the furry blue monster, riffs on the Old Spice web-ads.

“I was an art major at Wes, but an unofficial music minor, particularly enjoying Mark Slobin’s Worlds of Music course, several semesters of African Drumming with Abraham Adzinyah, and Bill Lowe’s remarkable History of African-American Music,” says Durwood.

Most people don’t become CFO of a national organization just one year out of Wesleyan—as a first job, no less—but Seth Halpern ’09 did just that.

A government major, he moved to Washington D.C. after graduation to look for employment, but the job market was difficult and a month later he was still unemployed. One morning at a local cafe he got to chatting with someone who said he worked at a software start-up, NationalField. Halpern admits that he’s always been “tech savvy” and the two hit it off. From there, he was introduced to the NationalField founders and he accepted a volunteer position with the team. A short time later, the CEO gave Halpern one of the top positions in the organization, formally naming him chief financial officer for NationalField,

Thomas Cowhey ’94 was appointed vice president of Aetna Investor Relations, responsible for maintaining the company’s relationship with the investor and analyst communities.

Cowhey, who joined Aetna in 2007, has most recently served the company as managing director of new business development. Prior to his affiliation with Aetna, he was a principal with Legacy Partners Group, an independent investment banking firm, and also had been a vice president at Credit Suisse First Boston. At Wesleyan, he majored in economics. He holds an MBA, with a concentration in health sector management, from Duke.

Aetna Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Joseph M. Zubretsky noted in a press release that “This new assignment makes very good use of Tom’s diverse experience, his strong knowledge of the health care industry and his familiarity with Aetna’s strategic and financial plans.”

Elise Bean ’78 was selected as one of this year’s most influential women lawyers in Washington, by the National Law Journal. Chosen as one of only 33—based upon reporting over the past year and nominations from the D.C. legal community— Bean is the Democratic staff director and chief counsel of the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The National Law Journal credits Bean and her fellow honorees, which include the two Supreme Court justices, with setting the legal agenda in the nation’s capital.

Bean leads a team of Capitol Hill investigators, who have explored commodities trading, money laundering, offshore tax evasion, and foreign corruption. “People don’t like to get calls from us,” Bean admitted in an article for the National Law Journal, “but we view ourselves as people who try to do a thorough, careful job.” These meticulous investigators can spend a year or more on a project—and the subcommittee can issue subpoenas if a company is deemed uncooperative.

Bean has worked for the subcommittee’s chairman, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), since 1985 and has served as the Democratic staff director since 2003. A Phi Beta Kappa government major at Wesleyan, she earned her J.D. from the University of Michigan.

Judge Anthony J. Scirica ’62, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, was one of two justices presented with the 28th Annual Edward J. Devitt Distinguished Service to Justice Awards on Sept. 13 in Washington, D.C.

The Devitt award, administered by the American Judicature Society, is given annually to honor judges “whose careers have been exemplary, measured by their significant contribution to the administration of justice, the advancement of the rule of law, and the improvement of our society as a whole.”

William D. Johnston, president of the society, noted in the press release that, “The award is considered the highest award that can be bestowed upon a member of the federal judic

Follow Wesleyan on Twitter

Sunday, 3pm: @wesleyan_u Private Lessons Teacher and harpist Megan Sesma returns to The Russell House with saxophonist Joshua Thomas. Featuring the world premiere of the second movement of Daniel Morel’s “Old Farmer’s Almanac: 1855” for solo harp. FREE! fal.cn/4EO6Retweeted by
Wesleyan University

On Feb. 15, the campus community gathered in Crowell Concert Hall to celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. HON ’64. Dr. Joi Lewis delivered the keynote address, “From Hollering to Healing: Black to the Future.” fal.cn/4Eam

“I’m first-generation and low-income, but I’m also a scientist, I’m a musician, I’m Muslim,” says @melisaolgun '20 on her multifaceted identity as a first-gen student. More on how Wesleyan supports first-gen: bit.ly/2EGR5QA#ActivateTalent

Women's Basketball senior captain Maddie Bledsoe ’18 says rebounding is about positioning, luck, and “wanting the ball more than the other team.” She leads the @NESCAC in rebounds per game with 10.8 this season! Read our Q&A with Maddie here: fal.cn/42eN

This Friday, watch Masayo Ishigure stretch the limits of the koto in her performance of "Koto 360." 8pm, Crowell Concert Hall, Friday 2/16! Discounted student tickets are available at the Box Office. @WesCFAfal.cn/42N6